Parliament passes PIB Bill

Parliament on Wednesday passed 'The 'Press Institute Bangladesh (PIB) Bill 2018' seeking to bring PIB activities under the ambit of the law. Information Minister Hasanul Haq Inu moved the Bill in the House and it was passed by voice vote.

Previously, the PIB was run by a Resolution of 1976. Under the proposed law, the PIB will provide training to working journalists and public relations officers of different government agencies.

A 16-member Board of Directors will be formed for running the activities of the institute and it will honor the journalists for their contributions.

The proposed law has defined the term 'journalist' under which all (who work on fulltime basis) editors, feature writers, assistant-editors, correspondents, reporters, copy writers, cartoonists, photographers or persons nominated by the government through gazette notifications will be considered as journalists.